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George Takei, William Shatner mourn the death of ‘Star Trek’ star Leonard Nimoy
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By Emily Yahr February 27
Leonard Nimoy of ‘Star Trek’ dies at age 83
View Photos Actor Leonard Nimoy, most known for his role of Mr. Spock in the television show “Star Trek,” died. He was 83.
Shortly after word got out about Leonard Nimoy’s death, his fellow “Star Trek” stars George Takei (Sulu) and William Shatner (Capt. Kirk) mourned the passing of their close friend.
Shatner tweeted a photo of the two of them, with this caption: “I loved him like a brother. We will all miss his humor, his talent, and his capacity to love.”
[Obituary: Leonard Nimoy, a pop culture force as Spock on 'Star Trek,' dies at 83]
Takei got on the phone with MSNBC during “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” as host Kristen Welker asked him to share what he wants the public to remember about Nimoy.

“You know, the word ‘extraordinary’ is often overused, but I think it’s really appropriate for Leonard. He was an extraordinarily talented man, but he was also a very decent human being. His talent embraced directing as well as acting and photography. He was a very sensitive man. And we feel his passing very much. He had been ill for a long, long time. And we miss him very much."

No Love For Jeb Bush and Chris Christie At CPAC

Fake journalist Sean Hannity ran off names of potential presidential candidates to the crowd at CPAC. Scott Walker and Rand Paul got the biggest cheers. The crowd booed when the names of Jeb Bush and Chris Christie were mentioned. Christie has avoided talking about immigration reform. Bush has shown an openness to some dorm of immigration reform in the past. The crowd at CPAC is booing because Christie and Bush aren't racist enough for their tastes.

The Most Important Legislation Ever

Yolie Capin is running for a second term on the Tampa City Council. I find it amusing that she is bragging about this piece of groundbreaking legislation on her campaign website.

The committee I initiated The Economic Impact of Cultural Assets was behind making the “Historic Tampa Cuban Sandwich” the signature sandwich of the City of Tampa. City Council members supported the designation as another way to celebrate and promote Tampa's heritage by leveraging our cultural asset. Resolution passed.

I don't have a problem with Capin. However, bragging about legislation for a sandwich is rather silly.

Plugs of the Day

Check out Susan Smith's Facebook page "Jeb Fails Education. Jeb Bush's education record in Florida is atrocious. I wrote this post on the lowlights of Bush's education policies during his tenure as Governor.

Write A Caption: Bill O'Reilly Edition

The FCC Approves Net Neutrality

Great news. The FCC approved net neutrality by a 3 to 2 vote. In a surprising move, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler voted with the majority. Wheeler is a former Comcast lobbyist.

"The action that we take today is an irrefutable reflection of the principle that no one, whether government or corporate, should control free open access to the internet," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said prior to the vote.

"The internet is simply too important to allow broadband providers to be the ones making the rules," he added.

The best explanation I have seen on the importance of net neutrality was done by John Oliver.

Dick Cavett on Ayn Rand

Elon Green interviewed Dick Cavett. The famous talk show host shared this story about the silly demands made by Ayn Rand. The libertarian author would not appear on Cavett's show if all her demands were not met.

She was supposed to be on my show; I was kind of sorry she wasn’t, because I was kind of laying for her. I did not succumb, as a kid, to being enthused by Ayn Rand, and that sense of power, as every kid was at one time until they outgrew it. The old bag sent over a list of fifteen conditions for appearing with me, or for appearing with anyone, I guess. One of them was, “There will be no disagreeing with Ms. Rand’s philosophy.”

GREEN: You’re kidding.

CAVETT: No! I wrote at the bottom of the list, to be sent back to her, “There will be no Ms. Rand, either.”

I find the demand of "there will be no disagreeing with Ms. Rand’s philosophy" to be hysterical.

That is the way television journalism should be done. TV journalists should ask people of all political stripes tough questions. Chuck Todd thinks his job is to bring John McCain on and have the Senator run through his laundry list of stale talking points.

Another interesting side note: Bikini Kill were big fans of the L.A. all girl band the Pandoras. Bikini Kill was very sadden about the death of Pandoras front woman Paula Pierce. Here is what Vail wrote about Pierce in a fanzine.

"Has anyone noticed that the title ‘Stop Pretending‘ was already used by perhaps the best all girl garage group of all time, The Pandora’s ??? So in addition to everything else, dude accidentally ripped off both a song and album title by an amazing all girl band. I mean it’s almost like a crazy psychedelic feminist musical nightmare."

Quote of the Day: Ron Paul Edition

"I was always annoyed with it in Congress because we had an anti-war unofficial group, a few libertarian Republicans and generally the Black Caucus and others did not—they are really against war because they want all of that money to go to food stamps for people here."

Ron Paul served in the House of Representatives. He could walk down the hall or pick up the phone to find out why the Black Caucus is against wars. Of course, that would require actual work on his part.

You know why Ron Paul had a racist newsletter? The reason is Paul has some incredibly racist views. This is what Paul told the Dallas Morning News in defense of an article he wrote for his newsletter.

“If you have ever been robbed by a black teenaged male, you know how unbelievably fleet of foot they can be.”

Laclair came into the bus terminal to use the restroom. According to eyewitness Gerald Schorder, Laclair never posed a physical threat to officer Ramirez.

"The guy didn't raise his hand to the officer at all," Schorder said. "The officer just knocked him down with his hands. The guy was defenseless."

Ramirez has been relieved of duty pending an internal investigation. Laclair was arrested for trespassing and released yesterday. I highly doubt Laclair will see anymore time on the trespassing charge.

Another incident happened at the Broward courthouse. Officer Christopher Johnson was videotaped dragging Dasyl Jeanette Riosacross the floor of the courthouse.

"This is really barbaric, and I'm just extremely disappointed," attorney Bill Gelin, who caught the incident on cellphone camera, told WSVN-TV. "We all work together in the court system, particularly in the criminal justice system, and this just gives everybody a black eye."

As chief assistant public defender, Rios' case falls under Desanti's department. She said she wants more than an internal affairs investigation. "I think he should be arrested for what he did," she said. "He committed a battery on her, and the same way that people have to go through the criminal system and defend themselves, he needs to defend his actions, and I plan to go forward to the sheriff. This gentleman does not deserve to wear a badge."

The whole incident started because Jeanette didn't want to leave because she didn't get an opportunity to say goodbye to her mother. There are no reports of Jeanette posing a threat to the safety of Johnson or other officers.

Johnson has been ordered to have no contact with inmates. The incident is under investigation.

Bill Clinton on the GOP Obsession With Obamacare

Via Addicting Info: Former President Bill Clinton appeared on This Week. Clinton remarked about the Republican Party's obsession with the Affordable Care Act.

“This bill [Obamacare] has already produced a lot of good results. Look, they are desperate for this bill to fail. Because, if it’s not a failure, everything they’ve been telling us since 1980, “big government’s bad,” is wrong. They so badly want it to fail. Can you remember a time in your lifetime when a major political party was sitting around just begging for America to fail? I don’t know what’s going to happen. I would be shocked if it fails. I just think when all these dire predictions don’t come out, if they don’t, I believe that pretty sooOn, within the next several years, this will belie Medicare and Medicaid. It will be a normal part of our lives ad people will be glad it’s there.”

Write A Caption: Rick Scott & Chris Christie Edition

Friday Cat Blogging

Big Cat Rescue introduced the bobcats Max and Mary Ann to each other a year ago. The two cats immediately hit it off. You can see that Mary Ann exerts her dominance early on. She isn't being mean. In the cat kingdom females like to show who is the boss.

NO CLIMATE DENIERS IN THE WHITE HOUSE," the proposed ad from Forecast the Facts Action read, steering viewers to RubioIsNotReady.org.

The billboard would look something like this.

Brant Olson had this to say about Clear Channel's decision.

"Clear Channel is applying a partisan filter to the ads that it allows Miami residents to see, and tilting the scale in favor of its own partisan agenda," Brant Olson, Forecast's campaign director, said in an email. "Clear Channel is playing dirty politics."

Clear Channel has heavily supported the Republican Party. The company pulled songs by the Dixie Chicks after lead singer Natalie Maines made these famous anti-Bush remarks.

Tom Hicks, an executive at Clear Channel, helped stage pro war rallies in support of President George W. Bush. The idea for the rallies came from Glenn Beck. Hicks bought the Texas Rangers from Bush and his partners. Hicks donated $146,000 to Bush's gubernatorial campaigns.

Clear Channel's reason for rejecting the ad.

"All our contracts clearly state we reserve the right to final ad approval," spokesman Jason King said in an email. "And sometimes the original ad presented in discussions may only be a draft."

Clear Channel has a right to reject the act. I just wish they would upfront about being pro-Republican.

Pussy Riot - I Can't Breathe

Pussy Galore have released have released their first English language song I Can't Breathe. The song is a tribute to Eric Garner. The death of Garner became a huge civil rights and police brutality issue after Garner died during his arrest.

Eric Garner, 43, died after being placed in a chokehold that caused him to suffer neck and chest compressions during his arrest two weeks ago in the Tompkinsville section of Staten Island, according to findings released by the New York City medical examiner’s office. Garner’s weight, chronic asthma and cardiovascular disease were listed as contributing factors.

A grand jury choose not to indict the officers involved in Garner's arrest.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Victoria Jackson's Latest Train Wreak Music Video

Former SNL castmate Victoria Jackson put her new music video There's a Muslim Living in the White House on Youtube. This is painful to watch. Jackson mumbles conspiracy theories about Obama being secretly a Muslim. This is so bad I literally couldn't watch the entire video.

Let's hypothetically say Obama is actually a Muslim. Are Jackson and her fellow tea party patriots saying that anyone who is automatically a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer? If they are then that is a highly simplistic and racist way of thinking. Jackson does wonder why there isn't a White History Month.

Wonkette posted this gem that Jackson later deleted from the internet. Preach it, sister.

I’m just really tired of the white male, and especially the white conservative, Christian male being attacked in cartoons, movies, TV shows, politics, Affirmative Action, etc. It’s like in order to fix the “discrimination” problem, culture flipped the racism from “against blacks” to “against whites”. Why do we have to be “against” anyone? Aren’t we all equal?

Just for the record, white men invented rockets, space travel, airplanes, the automobile, the English language, the U.S.A., most medical advances, electricity, television, telescope, microscope, Ivy League Universities, the computer, the Internet, and on and on. I think white men should be praised and respected. White Christian Conservative Men especially, should be loved and adored. They were the backbone and originators of the greatest nation on earth. We need more of them now.

Find a white, middle-aged Christian man today and hug him. And then, encourage him and your white Christian sons to stand up, be leaders again, and save our country from the God-hating communists like Alec Baldwin and Obama.

I'm with Jackson on saving America from Alec Baldwin. The rest of her rant is hysterical nonsense.

The Pandoras Have Reunited

The reunited Pandoras will be playing their first show since 1990. Kim Shattuck will be taking over on lead vocals and guitar. Pandoras band leader Paula Price died of a brain aneurysm on August 10, 1991.

The reunited Pandoras line-up.

Kim Shattuck lead vocals and guitar

Karen Basset - bass guitar

Melanie Vammen - keyboards

Sheri Kaplan Weinstein - drums

After the demise of the Pandoras, Shattuck and Vammem formed the Muffs. This is an earlier rehearsal of the original version of the Muffs. The rehearsal space was at Dave Naz's place.

Basset was fired from the Pandoras after she decided to hire her own manager. Basset later went on to become a member of Rebel Pebbles. Basset showed up to a Pandoras radio appearance on KROQ after she was already terminated from the band. Basset was placed in a separate radio booth from the rest of the band. In 2:55 of the Youtube clip, Pierce asks on-air for girls to audition to replace Basset.

The Rebel Pebbles had a minor hit with the song Dream Lover.

Kaplan Weinstein went on to become the drummer of Hardly Dangerous.

The Pandoras have an amazing history. You could literally write a book about all the stories that have been posted on the Pandoras Facebook fanpage. Some Pandoras trivia.

Musician Don Williams dated Pierce when he was 15 years-old and she was 14 years-old. This is Williams quoting Pierce's break-up letter to Williams.

Mike was a friend of Williams.

The song Close Behind is about anal sex.

Paula Pierce said to the other members of Pandoras that she had the "best ass in L.A." This became a running joke within the Pandoras. Shattuck and Vammen joke about it early in the Muffs rehearsal video.

There was once two rival versions of the Pandoras. The original version of the Pandoras splintered due to several personality conflicts. There are stories about Gwynne Kelly hitting Pierce with a beer bottle.

Pierce has had sex with several members of the band The Quick. Shattuck told radio host Lee Joesph that the band learned about Pierce's relations with the Quick from the Facebook fanpage.

None of the material the Pandoras recorded for Elektra has been publicly released. The working title of the album was "Come Inside." Some of the material has been illegally released on the bootleg "Psychedelic Sluts."

Some time aafter hearing the song I'm In Love With Paula Pierce, Miss Pierce had sex with Mr. T Experience member Jon Von Zelowitz while on tour.

Shortly after Pierce's encounter with Jon Von, Nardwuar interviewed the Pandoras. The band laughs when Nardwuar asks them if they ever heard of the Mr. T Experience. Go to 7:25 in the Youtube video.

Pierce and Sheri Kaplin Weinstein played on the Ronald Vaughn song Boris Karloff didn't Meet Runaways. You can listen to the song on Vaughn's Jango.com station.

The Pandoras shared a rehearsal space at Dave Naz's place with L7. The two bands were civil with each other but did not hangout. The Pandoras were never part of the riot grrl movement. L7 was told by Naz to stop clogging the toilet with their tampons.

Steve Peake of About.com makes the argument that the Pandoras were the best L.A. girl rock band of the eighties.

Led by the late Paula Pierce, one of the most ferociously charismatic frontwomen of all time, The Pandoras emerged during the early '80s from the L.A.-based paisley underground movement, inspired by a shared affection for gritty garage punk and a uniquely retro vibe.

Pierce wrote the song Stop Pretending about her ex-boyfriend Jeff Wolf from the band the Furies. I'm told this is Pierce's fuck you to Wolf.

Kim Shattuck took this wonderful photo of Pierce. This is Pierce out of her rock star persona.

The Muffs - Big Mouth

Ben Carson Crazy Talk on Iraq

Ben Carson is a huckster with no interest in ever becoming President. Carson went on Fox News saying that troops should be sent to Iraq. Carson said no troops should be prosecuted for any war crimes in Iraq.

CARSON: Our military needs to know that they’re not gonna be prosecuted when they come back, because somebody has, said “You did something that was politically incorrect.” There is no such thing as a politically correct war. We need to grow up, we need to mature. If you’re gonna have rules for war, you should just have a rule that says no war. Other than that, we have to win. Our life depends on it.

I would ask if Carson would swear on a Bible if he would not prosecute soldiers that kill their commanding officers or if soldiers raped minors. Carson would shake like a leaf if he was asked that question. I know this when Carson backtracked on domestic abuse when confronted by Bill O'Reilly. Carson actually defended NFL player Ray Rice punching out his wife. Who seriously does that if he wants to be President?

Carson, who earlier this week said people should stop “demonizing” Rice, told O’Reilly that he did not feel he should go unpunished for hitting Palmer, who later married him.

“What I’m saying is, for someone to do something like that who has everything going for them, it means that there’s some real deep psychological issues,” he explained.

“No doubt about it,” O’Reilly said. “I hope that Mr. Rice gets the treatment he needs — but again, I want to send the message that I do believe this is a plague, this violence against women all over the world.”

Write A Caption: Matt Lauer

Porn Stars Read Their Hate Mail & Tweets

Via Jenny Kutner of Salon: It is insane the amount of creepiness and sexism porn stars deal with online. There are men that watch porn endlessly watch porn and attack the pornstars they watch. I got in the middle of of an attack on Mia Malkova after I wrote on Malkova's mother accepting her daughter's career choice. The user has been suspended. All he basically did on Twitter was attack women. You can read the responses Malkova and I had with Super Randy.

If you don't like female pornstars then don't watch porn. The hypocrisy of guys whacking off to porn and then attacking female pornstars on the internet takes stupid to new levels.

Friday, February 06, 2015

Write A Caption: Bobby Jindal

This looks just like Bobby Jindal. What's the problem? Besides that little fact that Jindal's Louisiana governor's portrait makes him whiter than Pat Boone. Did Jindal think no one was going to notice.

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

L7 - Fast And Frightening (Reading Festival)

This is the infamous moment at the 1992 Reading Festival when Donita Sparks threw her used tampon at the audience. The crowd was throwing mud at L7. Sparks had enough and responded with the tampon throw.

Dave Naz has a famous rehearsal space in Los Angelas that was used by Redd Kross, L7, Chemical People, It's Ok, Pandoras, and Muffs. Naz left this note in the bathroom.

Objectivity at Columbia

I have a myriad of thoughts rattling around my skull right now because I think I may have been lied to, and they're all troubling.

What prompted me to fall into this mood? It was reading this article on The Daily Beast which interviewed the man accused of raping a Columbia University student. This student's story has made national headlines while her accuser stayed silent.

I'm a passive observer of the news these days and I didn't think much of this story beyond that I was happy to hear about it. I say that in the context of how rampant sexual assault is and how often the perpetrators of these crimes are able to remain free, so a woman's case gaining national attention to the point where passive observers of the news were hearing about it was a good thing. This means that, finally, public consciousness is amassing about sexual assault crimes - hopefully that consciousness rises up far enough to reduce and eliminate these crimes.

But that article at The Daily Beast shines a lot of doubt into the case against the student who was accused of rape. Does it fully exonerate him? No, but that's not the point. The point is objectivity.

But the article on The Daily Beast was objective. The evidence was presented fairly. The most damning piece of evidence presented by the accused are the friendly and flirtatious Facebook messages he exchanged with the accuser days, weeks, and months after the day she accused him of raping her.

If I was accused of rape by a woman months after she claims it happened but I can produce conservations with her a couple weeks after the rape supposedly happened where she's asking to hang out with me, then I would think something strange is happening. That's exactly one thing that's revealed in these conversations.

Like I said: Does the article, presenting evidence, mean the accused is innocent? No, but it does inject a heavy amount of doubt into the accuser's case. Most rational people who want to look at this story objectively will come away thinking that; and I defy anyone to argue against me on this point.

Does this diminish the seriousness of sexual assault, how pervasive these crimes are in our society, how often the perpetrators of this crimes get away with their actions, and how sexual assault needs to be stopped? No.

Does this change how scary I think it is that nearly every woman I've been intimate with has at least one story about how they were sexually assaulted? No.

Do I think they are lying? No - but even if half if them were lying, then 50% of woman being sexually assaulted is a gigantic issue. Unfortunately, I believe amount of women who have been sexually assault is much, much higher than 50%.

But I don't like being lied to.

Due to the how pervasive the crime of sexual assault is, I try to treat this issue with the utmost respect, care, and sensitivity. If I feel doubt against a woman's accusations, my first reaction is to remind myself how these crimes need to be taken seriously; how hard they are to prove in the first place; how I will never, ever understand the mindset of fear this creates because of the slim chances of this crime happening to me. And I keep my mouth shut.

But I have to speak up this time because, if we are going to continue bringing awareness and justice to sexual assault and its victims, stories like this one about the two Columbia University students will not help our cause. In fact, it could do a lot to hurt our cause because people will take rape accusations less seriously if they look like a fake accusation.

When we refuse to perform an objective review of the case first, but someone else does after we've made the case a national issue, then we look bad. There's no other way to put it.

Avoiding this scenario means caring about objectivity. We ignore such at our peril.

[I've been guest-blogging here before Twitter was a thing, but since that's how we communicate today, I'm @13monsters if you want to talk.]

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Rep. Joe Walsh on Fundraising & the Big Banks

Former Republican Rep. Joe Walsh talks about the vicious of constantly having to raise money for the next campaign cycle. Walsh admits to Cenk Uygur that the big banks bought off the tea party Republicans.

This is the first time I have ever heard Walsh sound reasonable. It is amazing what no longer being in Congress does to a person's perspective.